For The White Sox, 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' -- From Losing To Winning

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn is on a mission to recreate a winning tradition on Chicago's South Side. (AP Photo/Jeff Haynes)ASSOCIATED PRESS

The White Sox brass packed their bags Dec. 13 and departed the 2018 Baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas and headed for sweet home Chicago. Packed in those bags was a trade for veteran right-handed pitcher Ivan Nova from the Pirates for minor league pitcher Yordi Rosario and future considerations.

But those meetings also laid the groundwork for some more rebuilding moves to put the White Sox in position to move up in the A.L. Central Division in 2019 which is controlled, at the moment, by the Cleveland Indians—who are remodeling a club that has a championship window that is closing rapidly.

The White Sox signed catcher James McCann of the Tigers, who is a sturdy, reliable performer. General manager Rick Hahn then made a deal with the Indians for slugging first baseman/DH Yonder Alonso for minor league outfielder Alex Call.

Alonso, who clubbed 23 homers with 83 RBIs in 2018 and established a career-high mark of 28 homers with 67 RBIs in 2017, is the brother-in-law of Manny Machado.

Machado’s name has been linked with the White Sox as one of the club’s top free-agent pursuits.

As of December 14, the White Sox have some talented names to include in their lineup in Jose Abreu, Alonso, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Yolmer Sanchez, and Daniel Palka. Add Machado, top prospect Eloy Jimenez and the improving Adam Engel to the equation and the Sox have a lineup that could do some damage.

The young pitching staff will need some more veteran presence besides Nova and the bullpen can be upgraded further than the addition of late-inning specialist Alex Colome, who has 96 career saves over the last three seasons.

With the White Sox having just over $54 million committed in payroll for 2019, they have some money to spend and the ability to make offers to two of the most sought-after free agents on the market in Machado and outfielder Bryce Harper.

“We’ve had a number of conversations on a number of different fronts,” Hahn said. “All you have to do is type White Sox into Twitter or White Sox rumors and you see all sorts of interesting ideas being floated about, some of which are more accurate than others but we are approaching this with a wide-open frame of mind and a number of interesting conversations.”

That is encouraging to all White Sox fans to see the club pursuing big names and players who will put a charge into the team’s future.

“Top prospects are certainly highly valued,” Hahn said, “some of the price points on the free-agent market you understand why young, controllable impact talent is of great value to clubs. It also allows when you have that impact talent on your roster to reallocate your resources in other ways.”

The deal for Alonso was rumored to be a bargaining chip for the Sox to land Machado, but Hahn denied that was the reason for acquiring the productive slugger.

“We’re pleased to add Alonso to our club. We feel he provides a nice balance in our lineup and has nothing but a great reputation in terms of his game preparation, his professionalism, and the element of veteran leadership that he will add to our clubhouse. We envision both he and Abreu getting the bulk of the at-bats between the first base and DH spots over the course of the season. We feel he will improve us in the short term and he’s one of those players who will have a potential lasting impact on the young players as they continue to grow and learn how to be winning big-leaguers.

“Fundamentally this is a baseball deal. We feel this makes us a better team. His relationship with others really can’t be part of pulling the trigger and making the decision to acquire a big-league player, especially a veteran one with this type of contract commitment.”

A historic move in signing Machado or Harper would certainly change the club’s budget for future years, but a team-changing move of this magnitude would bring an explosive bat to the White Sox along with instant credibility to a team in transition from losers for the last six years to a serious contender for future title runs.

The Machado and Harper corners are both rumored to be searching for 10-plus years on a contract worth more than $300 million.

“There’s been a lot of positive feedback on long-term free agents,” said Hahn. “It’s funny though because when you’re talking about a short-term deal like a one or two-year deal, you get a response from a lot of the players saying, ‘Hey we want to be a part of the fun years too, so let’s do something a little bit longer.’ So, the negotiations can work both ways.

“Definitely the general consensus is one of optimism. There is a very deep understanding on the other side of the table about what we’re about and where we’re going.”

That is the important selling point the White Sox have in luring big-name stars to Chicago’s southside. The club has young stars that will shine at the major league level and adding veteran leadership with star power on the offensive, defensive and pitching sides of the game will reinforce that the White Sox will be a contending team sooner rather than later.

Regardless of what happens before the 2019 campaign starts on March 28, the White Sox are in position to win and they will add to the club in a big way to be a serious contender for the A.L. Central Division, the A.L. pennant, and a World Series title in the near future.

White Sox fans have to keep the faith and believe in the Bob Dylan tune, “The Times They Are a-Changin.’”

Bob Kuenster is a contributing columnist for Forbes.com. He can be found on Twitter at @bobkuenster

I have served as an associate editor, managing editor and editor for Baseball Digest magazine from July 1, 1987 through June 4, 2018, covering the MLB game as a writer. I have been a member of the BBWAA for 25 years and a Hall of Fame voter since 2004. I am the author of tw...